1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates rehabilitation devices, and more specifically relates to systems and devices for conducting hand therapy exercises.
2. Description of the Related Art
Physical and occupational therapies are used to treat patients suffering from hand injuries or reduced hand function. These therapies typically generally seek to restore some level of hand movement and function. In order to attain results, physical therapists and occupational therapists often use hand exercisers and devices, therapies, and repetitive motion exercises to re-train muscles and joints so as to regain strength and movement in the hand.
Both fine and gross motor skills are required to perform daily activities. Fine motor skills are used for activities such as brushing teeth, getting dressed, serving a cup of coffee, or eating. Proper functioning of the upper extremities and the hand is essential for utilizing fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are used during activities such as getting out of bed, crawling, walking, the ability to maintain and recover balance, and protecting the body when falling. Upper extremity function has an important role in many of these and other everyday activities.
Upper extremity control is required for both fine and gross motor skills. The recovery of upper extremity function is an important aspect of retraining motor control and falls within the scope of most areas of rehabilitation, including both occupational and physical therapy. Normal upper extremity function includes the ability to reach for, grasp, and manipulate objects. It is also the basis for fine motor skills required for daily functional activities such a feeding, dressing, grooming, and handwriting, which are all necessary for living independently.
Of all of the parts in a human body, the human hand has the most intricate and complex system of muscles, nerves and joints. After musculoskeletal or neuromuscular illness, any damage or direct trauma to the hand may result in injuries that require lengthy and arduous rehabilitation. Immobilization due to broken bones, torn tendons, or disuse after neurological trauma may lead to poor flexibility, weakness and atrophy of the hand.
Building up of the strength and flexibility of the individual fingers of the hand and distal upper extremity and hand function is a complex task that can be problematic, due to the high number of variations that are required to achieve maximum strength and a total return to usefulness and normal function.
For many years, conventional medicine taught that body function was localized to various parts of the central nervous system, that the adult central nervous system was rigid and unalterable, and that regeneration and reorganization of the central nervous system after injury was impossible. This view of the central nervous system resulted in therapies being directed at compensation since recovery of function was not possible. More recent research in the field of neuroscience has shown that the adult central nervous system has great plasticity and capacity of regeneration and reorganization following central as well as peripheral lesion.
As demonstrated by research, repetitive movement typically leads to procedural learning during motor skill acquisition. The theory of motor learning emphasizes automation of a desired movement. It is now known that the more time spent practicing movements as accurately as possible, the better the learning, so that the repetitive movement becomes an automatic motor activity.
There have been a number of efforts directed to rehabilitating hand function. For example, BTE Technologies of Hanover, Md. provides a rehabilitation system sold under the name Simulator II. The Simulator II provides hand therapy, general orthopedic and neurological rehabilitation capabilities for injured workers. The Simulator II includes a central processing unit that operates the system and track patient performance. Unfortunately, the Simulator II is expensive and immobile, and requires a skilled technician to operate the system. Moreover, the system may not be taken home by a patient for conducting hand rehabilitation exercises at home.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,676,570 to Valentino discloses a rehabilitation device having an elongated, angular body with a first end and a second end, whereby the first end has a first chuck and a second end has a second chuck. The first and second chucks are adapted to hold turning knobs. The rehabilitation device includes a tripod upon which the body is mountable. The device also includes different gears so that a range of resistance levels is available. A variety of different styles of turning knobs may be used with the device in order to provide a range of grasping and seizing actions made by the hand. Although the Valentino device is mobile so that it may be taken home by a patient, it still lacks versatility because it doesn't provide a wide range of tool positioning slots for use by the patient. Each time the patient seeks to change the height of a tool, the patient must re-adjust a tripod structure, which can be complex and discourage use of the device.
In view of the above deficiencies, there remains a need for smaller and less expensive rehabilitation devices that may be easily used by therapists and patients. There is also a need for rehabilitation devices that offer both patients and therapists diverse therapeutic alternatives to retrain wrist, hand and finger movements mimicking functions that can be easily transferred to a task oriented approach thereby maximizing therapeutic effect. There also remains a need for rehabilitation devices that are universally applicable to many injuries, as well as to patients having different sizes and shapes. In addition, there remains a need for hand therapy systems usable for rehabilitation of orthopedic and musculoskeletal injuries, neuromuscular impairments, traumatic brain injuries, stroke, muscular dystrophies, spinal cord injuries, and other debilitating diseases that impair hand movement and function. In addition, there is also a need for hand therapy manipulation devices that provide therapists with the ability to retrain patients in movements such as wrist flexion, extension, supination, pronation, abduction, adduction and circumduction, finger flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, grasp, grip and pinch, as well as gradually strengthening the muscular systems involved in such movements.